


Okay, so we're doin' this

by Campion



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, BUT I LOVE THEM, Claustrophobia, Fear, Gen, M/M, Near Death, Near Death Experiences, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Vomiting, mattsun and maki are menaces, not sure if it's actually PTSD but just to be safe, ships are only there if you squint, uses the f-word
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-10
Updated: 2016-07-10
Packaged: 2018-07-22 15:29:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7444363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Campion/pseuds/Campion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Back in the elevator, now, Tooru shuddered, remembering how Hajime had been wrenched away from him and placed in an ambulance, remembering how eerie the hospital was, remembering how Hajime had become jumpy and how he had eventually learned to manage his fear to some extent, but was still, to this day, anxious in crowds and small spaces.  Like elevators.</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>The story about a claustrophobic and somewhat traumatized Iwa-chan that no one asked for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Okay, so we're doin' this

**Author's Note:**

> So, if anyone is here for the Hamilton reference, you should probably leave now... because it's just there because I shamelessly stole Lin's line when I needed some good dialogue and I am Hamilton trash and then I needed a title and so I just stole his line again. Don't sue me. I don't own that line.
> 
> BUT if anyone is here and you don't get the reference... Go listen to Hamilton. You can thank me later. 'v'
> 
> Anyway, if you're actually here to read the story, I hope you enjoy it!

“Iwa-chan.”It was Tooru’s first thought when he found himself trapped in the small space with his best friend.Not that Iwa-chan wasn’t usually his first thought - he was - but this time, for maybe the first time, there was intense apprehension attached to the thought of his best friend.“Iwa-chan, are you okay.”

There’s a pause, and Tooru can hear quick breathing in the dark.

“Of course.Why wouldn’t I be?”Hajime tries to brush off his concern.But his voice cracks, giving him away even more than the noticeable lack of insults in his protest.Tooru bites his lip.He hates seeing Iwa-chan scared; it doesn’t suit him.He hopes he can hold it together until they can get out.

“Right,” Tooru mumbles, almost under his breath.He tries to assess their situation.They were in an elevator, and it wasn’t moving.The lights had flickered off and died suddenly.It was empty, so that was something to be grateful for, but all in all it was a situation that would scare any sane person.Unfortunately, Tooru knew it was especially bad for Hajime, so he had to be the one to think rationally.He pressed the alarm button and hoped it would work, even if the power was out, as it seemed to be.Then he tried talking.

“Iwa-chan, I can’t believe that spike you made earlier!It went straight through the block!That was incredible, you know?”His voice was lower than normal in an effort to sound calm and steady.It was tough, though.It was tough because his friend wasn’t replying.In fact, he couldn’t even tell if Hajime was listening.He had a feeling that he wasn’t.Tooru had a feeling that Hajime was absolutely freaking out, and he really didn’t blame him.Because it was the only thing he knew to do, Tooru kept talking about whatever meaningless, distracting subject came to mind.That happened to be mainly his opinions on recently released sci-fi and alien films, but meanwhile his thoughts went back to the one other moment in his life when he saw Hajime scared.

It had been dark then, too, but they’d been outside.Their families had been on a hike together, and he and Hajime had run ahead, Hajime chasing after bugs and Tooru whining about how gross they all were.Hajime had run just a little faster.Tooru followed his back around twists and turns, Hajime’s bright red net an easy way to keep track of him.And then he rounded a corner and both Hajime and his net were gone.

“Iwa-chan?”He’d called.There had been no response.Their families had caught up and found Tooru in a panic, and then they also started to panic.Tooru and his older sister had gone off on their own.They found themselves a little ways ahead near a pond, and were about to hurriedly move on after receiving no response to their cries of “Hajime!” and “Iwa-chan!” when Tooru froze.There was a huge, shiny, green beetle on a tree that hung over the pond.It was Iwa-chan’s favorite bug.It made his stomach flip.He went deathly still and eerily silent and his sister called out to him.

“Tooru?Don’t worry, we’ll find him.He probably just found some cave or…”She trailed off as she saw her brother’s expression change to one of pure determination.By the time she followed his line of sight to the water, Tooru was already launching himself at the red net that had floated to the surface of the water.

He had learned to swim just recently, and the pond wasn’t very deep, so he was able to struggle his way to Hajime, who was at the bottom of the pond.He kept his eyes open even as they burned and saw panic in his friend’s eyes, which didn’t see Tooru but looked past him.Then they slid shut and didn’t open, even when Tooru latched onto Hajime’s arm.And then he realized.

He had learned to swim recently, but he couldn’t swim without both arms.At the realization he let out a few bubbles of air, and he didn’t have time to be mad at himself for that because his chest and head started to hurt, his throat yearning for more air.He gripped Hajime tighter and tugged, but neither of them moved.Dark spots started to cloud his vision, but he wouldn’t let go of his friend.

And then they were both moving upwards, quickly.When Tooru’s head broke the surface he coughed and sputtered and was told to stay awake by his dad, who’d pulled the two kids out of the waterafter Tooru’s sister had yelled for help.When he was set down on the shore he coughed up mouthfuls of water and sputtered until he felt Iwa-chan being pulled away from him.

Back in the elevator, now, Tooru shuddered, remembering how Hajime had been wrenched away from him and placed in an ambulance, remembering how eerie the hospital was, remembering how Hajime had become jumpy and how he had eventually learned to manage his fear to some extent, but was still, to this day, anxious in crowds and small spaces.Like elevators.

Hajime made a strangled noise.

“Iwa-chan?”Tooru squinted and could make out his friend’s outline hunched in a corner.He sat beside him and could hear how uneven his breathing was, could feel him shaking when their arms rubbed against each other, could see now that his head was between his knees because even when he was having a panic attack, Hajime was able to think logically enough to try and prevent it from getting worse.“Iwa-chan, it’s okay.Just breathe with me, okay?In: one, two three, four-“

“I’m going to be sick,” Hajime interrupted with startling conviction.

“No,” Tooru said, because, well, who could blame him for not wanting to be in a confined space with vomit.“No, Iwa-chan, just breathe-“

He was interrupted by a loud retch.Tooru sighed.

“Okay, so we’re doin' this.”He rubbed Hajime’s back gently as another dry heave wracked his body.

“Can’t… breathe…” he gasped.Tooru felt like crying.

“It’s okay, Iwa-chan, I promise.”

Hajime whined.Then he made a wretched noise that sounded like a mixture between a gag and a wet burp and the sound of sick hitting the floor filled the elevator almost as quickly as the smell did.It was almost enough to make Tooru gag, but Hajime was already coughing up more vomit.

“Aw, Iwa-chan.It’s okay.You’re okay,” Tooru reassured him.Hajime shuddered and retched one last time before leaning back against the wall with a thud.He leaned a shoulder on Tooru, still breathing heavily and shaking.Tooru pet his hair, because even though it was a little weird, it always seemed to relax Hajime.The lights flashed back on suddenly and Tooru perked up.

“Iwa-chan, I think they’re going to get us out soon!”

Hajime made a small noise, too exhausted to do much else, and closed his eyes.Tooru noted that there was now puke dripping down Hajime’s shirt - almost more than there was on the ground.He hoped they could sneak into their joint hotel room without any of their teammates seeing.

It wasn’t long before the elevator doors opened.Fortunately, they were already on their floor.Unfortunately, Hanamaki and Matsukawa were waiting outside the door with the hotel mechanics when they got there.The two eyed each other in disbelief, and Tooru prepared himself to pummel them as soon as they started to tease Hajime.But they didn’t.

“Fuck,” Matsukawa said.

“Man, he really is scared of elevators,” said Hanamaki.Tooru’s eyes bugged out.He didn’t know how these two knew about Hajime’s fear, but he didn’t think Hajime would like it.He turned towards the dark head of hair on his shoulder, ready to deny any accusations, but Hajime didn’t make a sound.

“He’s asleep,” he murmured, relieved and disbelieving.The mechanics were making faces at the sight and the stench, but Hanamaki and Matsukawa rushed into the elevator without hesitation and helped lift Hajime from under his arms.

“Mattsun, Maki!”Tooru cried with gratitude.

“Thank us later,” Matsukawa said.

“Let’s get him cleaned up for now,” said Hanamaki with a genuine smile.

Tooru led the way to their room.Once all four of them were inside, having escaped being sighted by any of their other teammates, Tooru started a warm bath.Luckily, Hajime woke up in time to take it by himself, but he was still extremely out of it and didn’t even notice Matsukawa and Hanamaki’s presences.Tooru joined them at the tiny kitchen table to give Hajime some privacy.He put his hands on his sides.

“How did you two know?”

They looked at each other.Matsukawa raised an eyebrow.

“It was pretty obvious, ya know?”He declared.“I mean, he’s always a little bit more tense than normal in crowded places, and in elevators.”

“But still…”

“My sister is claustrophobic,” Hanamaki admitted.“So I’m pretty in tune to the signs.She has panic attacks, too.”

Tooru breathed out a heavy sigh.“Wow, you guys are even more shrewd than I am.”

They looked at each other sheepishly.

“What.”Tooru demanded.

“Well…”Hanamaki began.

“It started as a dare,” Matsukawa explained.“To find out if Iwaizumi is afraid of anything.”

“Because, you know, he doesn’t seem to be.He doesn’t get nervous around girls, heights and fistfights don’t phase him, and,”Hanamaki shuddered, “he actually _likes_ bugs.”

“Right,” Matsukawa agreed.“What kind of monster willingly touches bugs?”

Tooru had to agree with that.But he didn’t have to say so, so he didn’t.

“Anyway,” Hanamaki continued.“That’s how we figured it out.”

“Well, it was Maki’s idea.But it was pretty obvious to both of us once we started looking for it.”

Tooru nodded, because they were right; Hajime just wasn’t good at hiding his own secrets.

“Okay,” he allowed.“But listen: you guys can’t tease him about this, seriously.”

Hanamaki looked offended.“Of course not!Jeez, it’s not like we’d actually tease him about something so serious!”

Matsukawa laid a hand.“Maki, calm down.He’s just trying to protect his friend.”He offered Tooru a rare smile that made him feel warm inside, at least until Matsukawa spoke again.“And it’s not like you can blame him when we make fun of Oikawa’s all-important hair literally every second of our lives.”

Tooru bristled a bit, but didn’t really have it in him to retaliate.He got another genuine Mattsun smile as a reward.

“But honestly, Oikawa, we are his friends.We are your friends, too, and we’d never do anything to actually hurt you guys.”

“Right,” Hanamaki nodded furiously.“So let us know if there’s anything we can do to help, okay you hair-obsessed prick?”

Tooru laughed.“Yeah, thanks guys, I’ll let you know.”

The bath turned off and the two visitors stood up to leave.Tooru stopped them as they were heading out the door.

“Actually, could I ask you guys to do me a favor before you go?”

They nodded instantly.

“Could you convince Coach to give the team a rest day tomorrow?I know it’s training camp and all, but maybe you guys—“

“Sure thing, captain!”Matsukawa said, patting him roughly on the back.

“Leave it to us!”said Hanamaki with 100% confidence.

Tooru stared at them with wide eyes.“Really?Are you sure you guys can…?”

The two looked at each other again.

“Maki, I think he’s doubting our persuasive skills,” Matsukawa said.

“I think you’re right, Mattsun,” said Hanamaki.

Tooru looked back and forth between them and suddenly got a bad feeling in his gut.

“I can’t believe it.He of all people should understand the extend of our capabilities,” Matsukawa continued.

“Right?I mean, even though we convinced him he was an alien for almost two years…”

Tooru slammed the door in their faces, but their laughter filtered through anyway.“Shut up!That was way back when we were kids!”He shouted.They only laughed harder.

“So _they’re_ the ones responsible for that stupid obsession of yours.They’ll pay for that!”Tooru turned to face Hajime.He still looked exhausted, but there was a look of amusement masked by anger on his face that told Tooru everything was alright.He grinned.

“Iwa-chaaaan, thank God!I knew you’d stand up for me!Maki and Mattsun are just so—“

“I had to suffer through so many stupid, idiotic alien movies because of them,” Hajime continued as if Tooru hadn’t spoken.

Tooru froze.He knew he was supposed to whine and act sad and upset at Iwa-chan’s betrayal even though he was his best friend, but he was just so _relieved_ that he was acting normal.Maybe it was something in his blood, or his heart that made him do it, but suddenly he couldn’t help himself.

He tacked Hajime in a hug, and, since Hajime was still tired and for once to weak to hold the both of them up, they fell onto the bed behind Hajime together.

“What was that for, idiot?” Hajime said, putting his chin on top of Tooru’s to ensure that his friend never saw his blush.

“Sorry, Iwa-chan,” Tooru said with tears leaking out of his eyes.He buried his face in Hajime’s clean-smelling shirt.“I was just so, so worried.”

Hajime sighed, and he pulled Tooru into an even tighter embrace.His first instinct was to say sorry, but he knew that wouldn’t do.So instead, he settled for something a bit more positive for once, and something that was, coincidentally a bit more accurate and quite a bit more difficult to say.

“Thanks, Tooru.”Then he fell asleep, a single tear streaking down his face and past his smile.

Tooru, for his part, lay there grinning for two hours, content in Hajime’s arms until he, too, fell asleep at last.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Hope you enjoyed and would love some feedback if you have any (seriously, comments fuel my writing and my life)!


End file.
